Review of Julie & Julia (2009) by Danielw. — 07 Aug 2009

Was I watching the same movie as the critics? Has Meryl Streep become the teflon actress, a critic's pet regardless of what she throws up on the screen? This was one of the most extreme and selfish pieces of overacting I have seen in ages.

Streep sucks the oxygen out of every scene she's in. Even as talented an actor as Stanley Tucci has trouble registering, given how much scene chewing she engages in. I actually found the modern-day Queens' scenes a relief from all the grandstanding.

Not to say that they amount to very much either. Ephron homogenizes and pasteurizes all the situations and characters, to the point where one has a lot of trouble seeing what the demons are that could have driven the main character to take on her year-long encounter with Childs, or what could have driven Childs herself.

Adams' character doesn't seem to have any inner demons. When she has a fight with her husband, it comes as a total surprise. The characters until then do not seem to have the depth required to actually generate some conflict.

Too bad. There are clearly two good stories here that could have been told. Childs was a more multi-faceted character than what the screenwriter and director Ephron has let on, and as for the Julie Wallace character, a quick perusal of her blog reveals that she was much more interesting and complicated than the character that was provided to Adams.

This is what happens when you underestimate your public's intelligence and ability to deal with real, multi-dimensional characters in movies.